The Future Is Here: Dubai Is Testing Flying Taxis

@DXBMediaOffice

UberCHOPPER is so last year. Dubai has once again upped the ante with plans for a flying taxi service.

The flying taxi, officially named the Volocopter, is a personal helicopter. There are only two seats inside, but here’s the real kicker: there’s no driver. It’s an automated system.

Eventually, you’d summon a Volocopter from your smartphone and choose a “voloport” where you’d be picked up and dropped off… by a robotic, self-driven helicopter.

The taxi can fly for about 30 minutes at a time and coasts along at about 30 miles per hour (although it’s capable of reaching speeds closer to 60). Inside each taxi, passengers would find backup batteries, rotors and parachutes — you know, just in case.

#Dubai Crown Prince @HamdanMohammed witnesses the first test flight
of the Autonomous Air Taxi by @RTA_Dubai pic.twitter.com/U7IUjrfcgE

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) September 25, 2017

The Volocopter test flight lasted 5 minutes and hovered 650 feet above the ground. There weren’t any passengers onboard, but its safe landing was still monumental.

However, even in the futuristic city of Dubai, it will still be around five years before anyone can hail a flying taxi. What a time to be alive!

[h/t Travel and Leisure]